Cannolis are fried pastry rolls. They have creamy fillings. Before the filling is placed within the cannoli, the cannoli shell must be cooked. The traditional method of cooking cannoli shells requires that circular sections of cannoli dough be wrapped around cylindrical forms. One or more of the dough wrapped cylindrical forms are then placed within hot cooking oil within a frying pan. During the cooking process the dough wrapped cylinders float. Therefore, they must be physically rotated while being cooked for the shells to be uniformly cooked. After the shells are cooked, the cylinders are removed from the cooking oil. Then the shells are removed from the cylinders.
The traditional method of cooking cannoli shells has limitations. Since the shells must be rotated during the cooking process, they must constantly be attended to while being cooked. Otherwise, the shells will be unevenly cooked. The number of dough wrapped cylinders placed within the cooking oil is also limited. They should not touch each other and they all float at the same level. As a result, the number of cannoli shells which may be simultaneously cooked using the traditional method is limited.
What is needed is a device for cooking cannoli shells which keeps the cannoli shells submerged below the surface of cooking oil while they are being cooked. Also needed is a device which maximizes the number of cannoli shells which may be simultaneously cooked by keeping the shells separated from each other during the cooking process and by allowing cannoli shells to be simultaneously cooked at varying depths within the cooking oil.
The device for cooking cannoli shells described herein satisfies these needs.